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Sunday, May 24, 2015

Taking a Look at Evidentia

From time to time, I will be highlighting apps in the FamilySearch.org App Gallery. At the time of this post, there were 95 different Apps, some variations in the same program, in the App Gallery. Some of the Apps in the Gallery are relatively simple utility programs but others are full-blown, very involved, programs. Additionally, some of the Apps are free and others have either a subscription cost or a purchase price. Of the 95 programs listed, you also have to look carefully if you are concerned about whether or not the program is FamilySearch Certified.

Evidentia is one of those programs that is a fully-developed major application. Here is the a description of the program from the Evidentia website.

Evidentia makes it easy to collect information, analyze evidence, highlight missed connections and feel confident with your conclusions. Evidentia does not replace your current genealogy software, but instead is meant to supplement and complement your research.

On their never-ending quest for the whole story, genealogists of all skill levels use Evidentia to compile, evaluate, and analyze evidence.

Evidentia enables you to see the “big picture” by isolating relevant claims in a straightforward, visual layout. Looking at each piece of evidence individually and in relation to other pieces of evidence helps you reach a sound conclusion.

After watching two of the Evidentia videos, I decided to download the free version of the program and try it out. My first impression is that the program will address several issues with the maintenance of the FamilySearch.org Family Tree that I have been handling previously on an ad hoc basis, including providing a platform for consistently adding reasons for changes to the data I discover from research.

The first thing the program asked me was whether or not I wanted to synchronize my data from Evidentia with Dropbox. This was a good sign. It means that the programmers realize that data from any program is an issue and that storing that data in an online program, such as Dropbox, can solve a lot of file update and transfer issues.

I will have to take some time to get into the program, but it looks like a solid basis for improving sources and the conclusions drawn from them. Evidentia also links to FamilySearch and imports and exports sources and reasons.